TheRedQueen wrote:Mods...can we set this up? It's a great idea...post your backslides so you don't feel so alone!

That's it, exactly! Robin did so well meeting a new person yesterday, and watching people come into our shop without barking... and then riding in the car with River tonight, it all went out the window. She barked at the lady in the drive through (she's usually so GOOD going through the drive through) and barked at every person who got within 3 feet of the car while we got gas.

Mostly, I feel like I should know better. At least the drive through folks gave her a treat, so there's at least one good association with the drive.

I know I'm not the only one who expects a little too much a little too quickly sometimes, or accidentally lets their dog go over her threshold. I can't be alone!

"In these bodies, we will live; in these bodies we will die.Where you invest your love, you invest your life." --Marcus Mumford

Or in the case of Trouble, she just turns her head and acts like you aren't talking to her - you must be speaking to that other dog, but not her. And when you are old, arthritic, and the princess you get away with it.

TheRedQueen wrote:Ripley has now entered the EILIF portion of life...Everything In Life Is Free...he says Trouble must be using the same training protocol as he is..."I'm old, dammit...just give it to me!"

Simon moved into this stage, as well-- between the dementia and the arthritis, he frankly doesn't have to do sh*t to get what he wants. I'll have the girls in these lovely, attentive sit or down-stays, patiently waiting for their treats, while Simon is body slamming them to get to me so he can snap the treats right out of my hand, along with the tips of my fingers.

These public failures of mine and Robin's are frustrating in so many ways-- first, I don't want her to have negative associations with the outside world and strangers, and I usually feel like I shoulda seen it coming. The other frustration is other people's reactions. We live in a pretty blue collar town... pit bulls are not uncommon. People will continue to stare and grin and talk about how cute she is while she's barking her head off and getting growly. One lady yesterday went on about how that's how she's supposed to act and that she has a "blue" at home, and how you can totally "see" the blue in Robin if you look in her eyes.

I never know whether to just be happy that people aren't scared of her, or to be mortified that people find it not only acceptable to be barking like that, but admirable. (And yeah, I know most dogs will bark like that from inside a car-- it's not that unusual, but still...) More than anything, I want to smack them and tell them to please PLEASE stop staring at her; it just makes it worse.

Also:

BigDogBuford wrote:Pretty sure Minnie flipped me the bird yesterday.

River does this daily.

"In these bodies, we will live; in these bodies we will die.Where you invest your love, you invest your life." --Marcus Mumford

One of my favorite lines from Dr. Patricia McConnell goes something like this...that her dog often has a look in his eye that would translate to a four-letter word followed by "you", and she goes on to say that it's not "love you".

"I don't have any idea if my dogs respect me or not, but they're greedy and I have their stuff." -- Patty Ruzzo

"Dogs don't want to control people. They want to control their own lives." --John Bradshaw

One of my favorite lines from Dr. Patricia McConnell goes something like this...that her dog often has a look in his eye that would translate to a four-letter word followed by "you", and she goes on to say that it's not "love you".

If I was going to have an antisocial dog, why couldn't she be an UGLY antisocial dog . We were doing so well until the crazy lady charged the car wanting to pet her and then continued to stare through the windshield with a big stupid grin on her face through all the barking and growling instead of walking away.

She's just so damn cute. That was Simon's downfall, too, only he was also fluffy. His teeth, though, they were not so fluffy.

"In these bodies, we will live; in these bodies we will die.Where you invest your love, you invest your life." --Marcus Mumford

Oh let me count the ways....well there are wayyy tooooo many. Let's just say Magic still barks at moving wind and get's deaf...Doogie still, once in a while, thinks off means lay down harder and don't move she won't notice I can't hear her.

We made the mistake, however, of going on Saturday. There was another woman with a pit bull in the store when we got there. I think she kind of stared at Robin when we went in, and it set Robin off. She barked and fixated on them. She's usually good if we're already in the store, but with them already being there, she just couldn't focus.

On the other hand, the last time we were in, Robin flipped out when the retail manager picked up a pricing gun, so when I saw the woman pick up a mop this time, I thought, "Oh, here we go again." And Robin did start to get uncomfortable, but I was able to convince her to touch the mop bucket with her nose.

Some other folks came in with a little Boston. I explained to them (over Robin's barking and grumbling) that she was a stray and is scared and doesn't like to be stared at. They started to ignore her and she tried to walk up to them, but they of course stuck out a hand, and that set her off. She tried to follow the woman to get into her car, until the woman looked at her, which also set her off.

We did end the day, though, on a good note-- I found a trail about 3 1/2 miles long, paved, but all through woods and hills, and fairly quiet. It's gorgeous. I put her on a 30 ft lead and she loved it. The best part, though, was that every time joggers or cyclists came by, I could get her to step off the trail and let them pass...WITHOUT BARKING. It was a sight to behold.

It just kills me how much she really, really, wants to meet people and her fear just holds her back.

"In these bodies, we will live; in these bodies we will die.Where you invest your love, you invest your life." --Marcus Mumford

We went to the nice trail we found a few weeks ago. The dogs have been cooped up all week. It's been snowing and highs have been in the low teens, lows in the negatives, wind chills of -15. We've been colder than Anchorage!

So we took Robin on the long-line and went for a short walk. She saw kids and didn't freak out; saw other dogs and, while she definitely had hackles up and was a little reactive, she didn't try to follow the dog or bark or growl.

And then, right at the end of the walk, she saw more people. We stopped on the side of the trail. She could sit, and do a few little tricks until they got right next to us. I had a hold of her, but the lead was wet and slipped out of my hand, and she went running up to these people and started jumping on them. And it was ok, until the man tried to pet her. She started barking furiously, and backing up. Luckily, the guy wasn't scared or offended.

Walking back to the car, I thought about what to do in future.

Number one, when she's on a long line, I think I'll keep a traffic loop on her harness, so I have something slip over my wrist in close contact. We were very lucky that didn't turn into something more dangerous.

Number two, I should have immediately told the other hikers to ignore her, but it all happened so fast.

Number three, I should be taking advantage of all the nice hikers on this trail who aren't scared of her. The man she barked at yesterday, just stopped in his tracks and crouched down. My husband comes with me on these walks, and so one of us could have held her and given teats to these people, instruct them to ignore her and let her get treats from strangers. It's how she's come to love the people at the pet store, the vet and vet techs, friends who come over. I can go ahead on these walks and ask people (adults only, right now) to toss treats to her when they walk by, or let her approach and take treats if the people seem more keen to really follow directions. She only freaks out when they stare at her or lean over her to pet.

It sounds pretty geeky, but I heard one great suggestion for this. Plant yourself somewhere on the side of the path (this walking trail has benches along route set back from the pavement). Set up a little TV tray 20 feet down the path with a bowl of treats and a sign that says, "My dog is scared of strangers; please toss her a treat when you walk by, but also please ignore her," or something like that. Might be worth doing as the weather picks up and people are out walking.

We got home, and Robin's been hiding in her crate occasionally; we're keeping an eye on a couple of sores between her toes, so the day sort of ended on a rough note, anyway.

River, on the other hand, took a trip to the park, and we were the only people/dogs there. She got 40 acres, all to herself to run herself silly.

"In these bodies, we will live; in these bodies we will die.Where you invest your love, you invest your life." --Marcus Mumford